Mirror Boxing

The loud call of the oystercatcher always reminds me of the Wadden Sea, one of its natural habitats. But the salty wetlands of the Wadden Sea aren't the only place where I meet these beautiful birds.

They also colonize more inland areas, like college campuses and industrial sites. These worlds of glass and steel may look like unnatural places for them. But as long as it's not too crowded, they seem pretty okay. Most of the time, at least...

A few weeks ago, my boyfriend and I saw one of these birds. It was engaged in a heavy fight, with its own reflection in an office window.

I thought this was strange. I expected oystercatchers to be used to their own mirror image. After all, they are wading birds. So when looking for food in small puddles of water, they see their reflection all the time. But apparently, the vertical reflection from the window was quite another story..

My boyfriend and I didn’t want the bird to tire itself in a fight against a non-existing enemy. So we wanted to chase it away from its 'rival'. Oystercatchers are pretty shy, so just approaching it was enough to make it fly off to its friends on a nearby rooftop. We hope the excitement was enough to make it forget about its rival...